Life — April 21, 1921 — page 7: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# The Herford Aesop Page Analysis This page presents classic Aesop's fables illustrated by Oliver Herford (credited as "Copy, 1927"). **"The Ant and the Grasshopper"** depicts the moral lesson about thrift versus idleness: an ant storing grain for winter while a grasshopper plays. When winter arrives, the starving grasshopper begs for help, but the ant refuses, advising the grasshopper to have worked instead of danced. **"The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg"** shows a farmer's fatal greed: he kills his goose expecting to find gold inside, only discovering she was ordinary—a cautionary tale about destroying valuable assets through impatience. The illustrations use simple black-and-white woodcut-style drawings typical of 1920s children's literature. **"Questions That Ought to be Answered"** below shifts to contemporary social commentary, raising concerns about immigrant assimilation, education overcrowding, and government treatment of disabled soldiers—likely referencing post-WWI American anxieties.